Adm. Sci., Volume 9, Issue 4 (December 2019) – 24 articles

The application of business process management (BPM) in public organizations is determined by multiple factors and, according to numerous studies, organizational culture is one of them. Therefore, the aim of the study presented in the article was to identify the organizational culture factors which occur in community offices in Poland. Subsequently, the identified factors were assessed in the context of their significance in the introduction and development of BPM in the examined entities. As a result of the conducted study, it was possible to indicate not only the factors, which have the potential to stimulate the implementation and extension of the concept in the community offices, but also the elements recognized as its barriers. Among the factors that can be considered as the mentioned stimulants, these were: the possibility of exchanging opinions with one’s superiors and colleagues, the will to learn and to broaden one’s knowledge, good and friendly interpersonal relations, or an orientation towards service quality. And among the elements that can be perceived as barriers, one can identify a lack of positive attitude to change or the formalization arising from the law. Full article

During recent years, an increasing number of studies have started to discuss the introduction of new form of reports in public administration. Furthermore, the attention paid by academics has been favoured by the introduction of a new form of regulation by policy makers. Specifically, a large part of these studies has regarded the heritage sector due to its high degree of complexity. The attention paid to the heritage sector has been driven by the existence of asymmetries between the value of cultural assets and the profitability of institutions. According to this evidence, the aim of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of the Italian Integrated Economic Report (IER). Our research highlights that the adoption of managerial reports, such as the IER, could provide useful insights for policy makers in order to invest their financial resources in a more effective way. Full article

Organizations play a key role in reducing anthropogenic pressure on the natural environment. The first step towards improving their sustainability performances is the implementation of methodologies that take into consideration multiple environmental impact categories, as well as the entire value chain. The attention of scholars and practitioners was initially addressed to the analysis of products and processes, yet in a few cases in which they were addressed, the approaches used for organizations had a limited scope and range of use. Only in recent years have they been framed in a life cycle perspective. This article analyzes two recent life cycle-based methodologies that have their focus on the organization, namely Organization Environmental Footprint (OEF) and Organizational Life Cycle Assessment (O-LCA). The goal is to define the state of the art of their methodological and current application developments and consider the relevance that these methodologies can have, both in terms of internal and external commitment (e.g., for the supply chain actors) and of reporting and communication requirements. The research was carried out starting from scientific databases, integrating technical legislation and secondary literature. The results obtained allowed tracing the first evolutionary trends, identifying the main authors and scientific journals and highlighting the relevant issues according to the researchers. A content and bibliometric analysis was performed that included all the contributions published so far. Projects and case studies that practically applied the two methodologies were also identified and analyzed. Finally, the main differences between the two methodologies were highlighted and future developments were hypothesized. Full article

While foundations contribute in significant ways to the United States’ social, economic, and political life, they are experiencing increasing demands placed upon them by their own sector and need to respond to the major changes in their external environment. In order to create breakthrough solutions to long-standing problems, foundations have to become more innovative and seek to experiment and find new approaches. Unfortunately, innovation discourse within foundations has received little attention. This paper fills the gap in the literature as it describes the results of a study that explored different types of innovations implemented in foundations. More specifically, staff members of 17 US foundations that are known for supporting innovation in nonprofit organizations, were asked to describe programmatic and administrative innovations implemented in their own foundations. The results showed that foundations that support innovation are in fact innovative themselves. They implemented numerous innovations in programmatic and administrative, financial, and structural areas. This paper provides a rich description of a broad range of innovations implemented within each of those areas. The contribution of this study and insights are significant at this particular time when foundations’ roles and impact on social change are questioned. The results can enrich our discussion of where foundations can go from here in terms of becoming innovative themselves in order to be able to support and enhance innovation in the nonprofit sector. Full article

A broad range of organizations, from small and medium-sized enterprises to large multi-nationals, are interested in adopting circular economy practices. A circular economy can help companies make better use of materials by minimizing the input of natural resources, reducing waste, and optimizing the economic, social, technical and environmental costs and benefits of materials and products throughout their lifecycle. Despite the interest of companies in a circular economy, only 9% of material flows in the global economy are circular. There is formal guidance for those offering business support with the aim to expedite the transition to a circular economy. However, support measures narrowly confine the role of companies and the motivations of business managers to the economic realms, assuming that companies are solely driven by monetary factors. Conversely, pluralist economic views emphasize the broader role of companies in society: for example, in respect of the well-being of their staff and the communities in which they reside. Indeed, our practical experiences of business support have brought alternative motivations to explore a circular economy to the fore. We argue that business support should stem from a broader conception of the role of business in society. The diverse motivations and willingness of business managers to engage in a circular economy should be investigated further with results feeding into broader and more inclusive business support guidelines in the future to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy. Full article

From 2002 to today, world sugar production has steadily increased due to higher food consumption and biofuel production. Furthermore, in the European Union, the CAP 2014–2020 new reform abolished the system of production and sugar exportation quotas by 1 October 2017. Therefore, since that date, the international sugar exchange has significantly increased in light of these new structural and political–economic conditions. Thus, companies offering a new bulk-packaging technology for international shipping could increase their market success. At the same time, the possibility for the same buyers (from sugar producers to logistic agencies) to use a safer and more sustainable packaging system has become important for economic and environmental cost reduction. The present study aims at presenting the experience of a small Italian enterprise that became a European leader in this sector due to its patents concerning a new, more efficient and sustainable product for bulk sugar transport in containers. This technological innovation represents not only a noteworthy sustainable business strategy for becoming more competitive in the market, but also a system for ensuring more effective sugar transport, mainly for the reduction in management costs (up to 65%) for buyers. Full article

This paper presents the results of the content analysis of 139 Web of Science papers focused on collaborative innovation with external stakeholders of public administration, specifically on co-production and co-creation. The analysis included papers published between 2009 and 2018 and was based on a coding scheme consisting of 12 parameters grouped into four groups: paper descriptors, financial support of the research, methodological framework, and co-creation characteristics. The results reveal a considerable increase in researchers’ interest in co-production and co-creation in the context of public administration in the last few years. This is particularly the case in Northern and Western Europe, where Anglo-Saxon and Nordic administrative traditions dominate. Furthermore, the results show that co-creation is most often placed in the contexts of social policy and welfare, as well as health care. Over the selected period, research seldom addressed companies as a target group in the co-creation of public services—in comparison to citizens and internal users. More than three quarters of the papers observed were empirical and less than 20% were quantitative. In general, a lack of conceptual clarity was often identified through the interchangeable usage of the terms co-creation and co-creation and the low level of international comparison—the majority of the papers focused on case descriptions at a national level, even though collaborative innovation is strongly related to administrative traditions dominating in specific regions. Full article

Decentralization policy schemes (DPSs) in the public sector have been implemented in different ways by Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Both approaches have led to a transfer of competencies from state administration to self-government with the aim of improving the efficiency of the delivery of services. This paper presents a comparative scale efficiency analysis of the units performing services in the building order sector. The analysis is based on two unique regional datasets from two countries, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The DPS implemented in Slovakia is based on the principle of voluntary cooperation of municipalities. In the case of the Czech building sector, the competencies have been transferred to the newly created municipalities with delegated or extended competencies. This study aims to contribute to the research on efficiency in public administration. We focused on the relationship between two types of DPSs, and units’ scale efficiency. We also tried to determine whether a specific unit scale size could be identified as the most efficient. We employed a two-stage metafrontier approach based on procedures for evaluating program and managerial efficiency. The results show that different DPs have not led to statistically significant differences in performance, and it is not possible to identify the most efficient building office scale size. Full article

Although researchers have identified corruption as a factor capable of affecting the entrepreneurial ecosystem at the national level of analysis, scholars have reported conflicting results regarding the exact nature of the relationship between corruption and entrepreneurial intentions. This paper formulates some propositions about the complex relationship between corruption and entrepreneurship at different levels of analysis and it suggests and explores the socio-cultural consequences of such domains’ interactions. Finally, the slippery-slope effect will be discussed as an intra-individual psychological mechanism that could explain why even morally-engaged people might replicate corrupt behaviors. The limitations of this work, and its implications for future researchers and for government policies will be analyzed. Full article

This study aims to explore how family firms pursue strategies that promote strategic flexibility and knowledge-management (KM) practices to respond to strategic-renewal goals. Specifically, based on a knowledge-based view of the firm, the following research question is proposed: Are there heterogeneous groups of family firms in terms of knowledge management, strategic flexibility and strategic renewal goals? To answer this question, an exploratory study using a two-step cluster analysis is developed. It reveals natural groupings from a sample of 288 small and medium-sized Spanish family enterprises (SMEs). The results obtained identified three distinctive clusters of family firms, namely proactive family firms, transitional or adaptive family firms, and rigid family firms. After two-step cluster analysis, we also conducted analysis of variance (ANOVA) to confirm that significant differences amongst the three clusters exist. After heterogeneity been confirmed, a further profile of the cluster solution was provided by using CEO and board characteristics, as well as the generational stage of the company. The findings offer some counterbalance for those studies that tend to study family businesses as a homogeneous entity, thus permitting researchers to access more information, providing rich explanations for renewal managerial decision-making purposes in family firm contexts. Full article

Owing to the contextual challenges, human service professionals (HSP) are creating social value (SV) for diverse vulnerable population groups through social innovation. This qualitative exploratory study investigates the nature of SV created by 14 HSPs, representing a diverse range of human service organizations (HSOs), and examines ‘why’ and ‘how’ they innovate. In addition, the study examines HSPs’ current understanding and practices related to social entrepreneurship (SE). The study findings highlight that increased accountability and new funding opportunities challenged HSPs to innovate. HSPs created SV by addressing new unmet needs, developing new collaborations, and employing alternative marketing strategies, thereby ensuring the financial sustainability of their programs and organizations, and promoting social and economic justice. Different understandings of SE were voiced based on the educational backgrounds of HSPs. Without formal training in SE, HSPs trained in social work appeared to use various components of the SE process, though in a haphazard fashion compared to those with a non-social work academic training. We suggest that the graduate curriculum across various disciplines should formally include principles and behaviors related to social innovation and entrepreneurship. Finally, more research is needed to understand and describe how HSPs create SV in HSOs. Full article

This study investigates the mediation effect of motivation (MO) between internal marketing (IM) and service innovation (SI) using a hierarchical model. It adopts Bahman Group Corp of the automobile industry in Iran as a case study. This paper aims to examine the effect of internal marketing (IM) on service innovation (SI) by the mediation effect of motivation (MO). It develops a theoretical hierarchical multi-component model and analyses through a two-step approach of higher-order model by using PLS on 171 clean data. This research uses a survey method to collect data from the employees of Bahman Group Corp. The results indicate that motivation (MO) has a partial mediation effect between internal marketing (IM) and service innovation (SI). This study illustrates that internal communication (IC) and a New Organizational Delivery system (NOD) have the most substantial effect on internal marketing (IM) and service innovation (SI). Moreover, this research highlights to the service-based organisation to pay more attention to enhance internal marketing dimensions, especially in terms of service innovation to improve competitiveness. The results recommend further studies to examine the correlation between each indicator. The findings conclude with two main contributions and managerial implication to the research area that impactful to the subject of study. Full article

Process management is a concept that is used in public administration units in Poland to an increasing extent. Implementing this concept in public organizations, in line with the assumptions of New Public Management, is directed, among others, to increase their efficiency. The purpose of the research presented in the article was to identify the attributes describing process maturity of the community offices of urban type in Poland and to assess the interdependence of the attributes. In order to achieve the goal, an authors’ questionnaire was used. Also, an attempt was made to create a process maturity model dedicated to the community offices. As a result of the conducted research, it was noticed that most of the examined entities use, at least, some elements (attributes) of process management. However, they are used at different levels by individual community offices. Full article

The economic recession of 2007–2013 brought many challenges to nations and cities throughout the world. Los Angeles experienced a foreclosure crisis that brought instability in the real property market, resulting in property loss and loss of revenue from property taxes and increasing demands on city resources from blighted properties. The paper begins with a background of the problem related to blighted properties and proceeds a literature review related to the five phases to the development and implementation of a governance network. The paper then examines a case study—the City of Los Angeles Foreclosure Registry Program’s governance network to reduce blight—to assess the phases taken to learn if the theory of network design offers meaningful direction and insight. The paper closes with an evaluation of the consistency regarding the literature related to the five phases of governance network development and its implementation by the City of Los Angeles. Full article

Higher education institutions are called to expand their role and responsibilities, by enhancing their entrepreneurial mindset and redefining relationships with stakeholders. In order to cope with these new challenges, they have started to operate in a strategic manner, by performing marketing and merchandising activities. Indeed, in a sector characterized by the presence of competitive funding models, several forms of accountability, and performance indicators, universities have become open systems and have started to operate like enterprises, considering students as customers. Given this premise, the aim of the paper is to individuate marketing and merchandising strategies in higher education and to evaluate their effectiveness in order to foster stakeholders engagement. This is in line with the entrepreneurial university model that represents the starting point of the theoretical study, then a literature review of “marketization” in higher education institutions is presented, showing how this field is not yet completely investigated. Data refer to the Italian context and are analyzed through a qualitative method. Findings suggest that most Italian universities perform merchandising strategies, but currently there is not sufficient information to evaluate their effectiveness in higher education, it was only possible to make hypotheses. Full article

One way for jurisdictions with limited analytic resources to increase their capability for doing cost–benefit analysis (CBA) is to use existing shadow prices, or “plug-ins”, for important social impacts. This article contributes to the further development of one important shadow price: the value of an additional high school graduation in the United States. Specifically, how valuable to a student, government, and the rest of society in aggregate is a high school graduation? The analysis builds on the method developed by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy and presents numerical updates and extensions to their analysis. For the U.S., the estimated net present value (the social value) using a 3 percent real discount rate of this shadow price is approximately $300,000 per each additional graduate. In appropriate circumstances, this value can be “plugged-in” to CBAs of policies that either directly or indirectly seeks to increase the number of students who graduate from high school. Full article

The purpose of this article is to analyse the design and implementation of strategic planning and performance management in governmental agencies in two Nordic countries, Finland and Norway. Nordic countries are an interesting study from a comparative perspective because while they are commonly assumed to have been high-intensity new public management reformers, they are also commonly assumed to have a distinct public management tradition. Moreover, these two countries are interesting to study because within the Nordic public management tradition, Finland and Norway specifically represent two different public management traditions. Finland belongs to the Eastern Nordic public management tradition, with an emphasis on decentralisation and agency autonomy, while Norway belongs to the Western Nordic public management tradition, with an emphasis on hierarchical governance, and hence, much performance management and reporting. Therefore, we expected to find more decentralised strategic management and an emphasis on evaluation in Finland, and more central, planning-like strategic management and reporting in Norway. Our comparison shows that both countries had mandatory strategic planning and utilised decentralised strategic planning in government agencies. The stronger legal orientation in the public administration in Finland, however, made strategic changes more complicated in Finland than in Norway. Full article

The impact of financial austerity in many countries and the need to set the direction for governments have radically changed several aspects of Public sector management (Rubin and Willoughby 2014; Anessi-Pessina et al. 2016). A central component of this effort to transform public management involves using strategic planning and performance measures for budgeting decisions (Joyce 1997). Over the last decade, there has been an increase in the use of performance budgeting at the national as well as at subnational and local level, with varying approaches and results across countries (Bleyen et al. 2017; OECD 2017). This article analyzes the dynamics of strategic planning and performance management practices in relation to the budgeting processes in the context of the Italian central government, with the aim of evaluating whether a predominant integration model is apparent in relation to those used in different countries at the OECD level. Starting in 2009, reforms concerning the implementation of performance management tools in the Italian public sector have been promoted and revised, although the need to fully integrate the performance and budgeting processes looks urgent. Based on data from Italian Ministries, this article analyzes the type of relationship and the degree of coherence between adopted strategic plans and budgets. The results show the persistence of a prevalent misalignment between planning and budgeting. Data that were collected from the analysis of strategic plans and budgets from ten Ministries depict a patchy situation, in which some ministries integrate the processes defining a consistent and comparable model, while some others do not. In the conclusions, areas for improvement of the process are identified, while providing policy implications. Full article

The article analyzes the factors of the use of employees’ representatives in the adoption of a company’s decision in Lithuanian companies. The methodology of current research is based upon the data collected through a quantitative expert-based survey and qualitative interviews with representatives of trade unions. The survey method has been used in order to obtain the data from the experts involved in the field of industrial relations in Lithuania. The interviews with representatives of trade unions gives a possibility to look at how people perceive the employee participation methods proposed by the employers, what benefits they see in their use and what policy does their organization or collective apply towards these means (trade unions etc.). According to the research findings, the employee’s participation is called a social dialogue at the company level. The results of the current research in favor evaluate the constructive cooperation between the employee representatives and employers (when this does not encompass important areas of industrial relations (i.e., collective agreements, negotiations regarding wages, employment conditions etc.)). Full article

The relationship between political leaders and public administrators is a layered and multi-dimensional phenomenon influenced by both organizational characteristics and personal qualities and skills. Continuous reforms of local government structures lead to changes in the interaction between these key actors. The purpose of this article is to investigate if different interaction patterns of political leaders influence how they perceive their duties as political leaders. The empirical data was collected by a questionnaire from political leaders in six local government organizations in Finland. The political leaders were then grouped into three using factor analysis and k-means clustering according to their interaction styles in their positions in the strategic level decision-making. The further analysis utilized contingency tables. The results suggest that the three groups among the political leaders think and act in different ways. The differences are not based on political opinions, but on attitudes towards the decision-making process and the political leaders’ modus operandi. There are also differences what the political leaders find most difficult in their duties. These groups form one more layer in modern local government decision-making. Recognizing the different patterns of interaction may help us to better understand the dynamics of strategic management in the local government. Full article

In this paper, we study how entrepreneurial and strategic processes develop in a public-sector organisation through a theoretical lens of Strategic Entrepreneurship (SE). Previous literature on SE practices identified a number of organisational aspects—such as organisational culture, structure, and entrepreneurial leadership—that are important to manage in order to benefit from new opportunities and strategic actions. So far, there is little knowledge about SE practices in the public sector and their possible consequences. There are also few qualitative studies in the field of SE, though arguments have been made for it. Our study is based on a longitudinal and qualitative process approach focusing on the work of the Swedish Public Employment Service’s (SPES) efforts to realise its new strategy through entrepreneurial and strategic processes. The results showed that there are several organisational tensions in relation to the processes of entrepreneurship. We have empirically contributed to previous literature by studying the SE practices of simultaneously balancing the processes of entrepreneurship and strategy. We have also contributed to a more nuanced discussion of the complexity of implementing SE practices and their relationship to organisational culture, structure and entrepreneurial leadership. Full article

This study, by the application of a linear regression by ordinary least squares (OLS), aimed to explore the relationships between knowledge management practices (KMP) and innovation outcomes (product, process, organizational, and commercial), and how they can be moderated by two dimensions of the entrepreneurial orientation (proactiveness and risk taking). This empirical study used survey data from a sample of 288 Spanish family small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The results revealed a positive effect of all the KMPs studied for at least one of the innovation variables studied. Regarding the moderating effect of proactiveness and risk taking on the KMP-innovation outcomes relationship, proactiveness negatively moderated the relationship between knowledge creation and product/process innovation. Moreover, a positive moderating effect was found for the case of knowledge application and process innovation. With regard to risk taking, the evidence found was mixed, and confirmed for some KMPs and all the innovation measures, with the exception of process innovation. The only positive moderating effect found was for knowledge storage and product innovation, whereas, contrary to expected, a negative moderating effect was found for knowledge creation, transfer, and application practices and commercial, product, and organizational innovations, respectively. Full article

The aim of this article is to explore key changes in the mode of operation of Polish social economy organizations (SEOs) that result from a social policy targeted at strengthening their independence and sustainability. The activities of SEOs are largely supported by public institutions, but their opportunities for assistance of capacity building are considered insufficient. Owing to the current policy, not only an economic independence, but also the structure and behavior of supported social organizations, especially in their relations with other stakeholders, can be strengthened. Based on the exploratory analysis on how SOEs change their independence and sustainability as a result of implementation of the public policy, a conceptual model of value co-creation will be used. The model enables analyzing the scope and scale of stakeholder engagement in the development of SEOs. The empirical research was conducted using a survey among 112 Polish social economy organizations. The results of the study show that the market-oriented approach not only reduces the scale of relations between SEOs and their stakeholders but also affects the way SEOs work, transforming them to be more like traditional businesses. Full article

The study of firms’ decisions on open innovation has recently attracted the attention of scholars studying the process that firms follow from closed to open models. Extant research has acknowledged that firms tend toward open innovation models and has identified the optimum levels of breadth and depth of openness toward which firms should tend. Surprisingly, there is little evidence on how firms move toward open innovation and whether they follow scholars’ recommendations. In this paper, we investigate the adoption of the open innovation model, studying firms’ decisions on breadth and depth and switching behaviours over time. This paper provides a discussion of firms’ degree of openness and how firms structure and reassess their decisions on open innovation over time. This framework was applied to the Panel of Technological Innovation database that includes data on Spanish innovating firms for the period 2005–2013. Full article